Previously unthinkable selections face acid test against Boks - Andy Goode
Eddie Jones might be insisting that this isn’t an acid test for some of his callow England players but tests don’t come much bigger than facing the world champions at Twickenham.
Starting against South Africa with a front row of Bevan Rodd, Jamie Blamire and Kyle Sinckler would have been unthinkable a couple of months ago but that is the position he’s in now through a combination of bad luck and choice.
Joe Marler is waiting in the wings after coming out of his quarantine period on the eve of the game but hookers Blamire and Nic Dolly have just four caps and only eight Premiership starts between them as they prepare to face possibly the two best front rows in the world.
It’s tough enough facing Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Trevor Nyakane but even if they do achieve parity with them, Steven Kitshoff, Malcolm Marx and Vincent Koch are the most formidable scrummaging trio in world rugby coming off the bench. If that isn’t an acid test, then I don’t know what is.
Nobody is expecting this England front row to get the upper hand, they just need to stop the Springboks from earning scrum penalty after scrum penalty as they did against Wales and Scotland. The Boks won nine scrum penalties in those two games and that is key to their game plan as well as the kicking game.
Joe Marchant is a surprise selection on the wing but Jones has explained that a lot of that is to do with the kicking assault that everyone knows is coming. As everybody says, you know what’s coming from South Africa but counteracting it is another thing entirely.
Many have tried and failed but England will have learned their own lessons first-hand from the 2019 World Cup final and the template for how to beat the Boks has been shown by other teams not so long ago.
Cue Marcus Smith. He doesn’t have the experience of Owen Farrell alongside him this week so he has the keys to the attack in his hands alone for the first time and England have to keep the ball as much as possible and move South Africa around.
That’s what Ireland did to New Zealand last week in a way as they had 60% possession and 65% territory and forced the All Blacks to make a massive 231 tackles. England will need a similar level of performance if they are to beat the world champions.
Australia also provided the blueprint when they beat the Springboks in back-to-back games in September. They did have less possession and territory but they moved them around and, crucially, they made the most of their opportunities with over a 70% conversion rate from their entries into the opposition 22 in both games.
It’s almost a Harlequins style of rugby that England need to utilise and Smith should be backed to do it. He may only have four caps to his name and it goes without saying that this is the ultimate test for him too but he certainly doesn’t lack confidence and I think he’ll take it in his stride.
I met his dad at Twickenham last weekend and he said he absolutely loves the pressure and backs his ability against anyone so the stage is set for him.
If England do win and he shines alongside what I think is England’s best centre combination of Manu Tuilagi and Henry Slade, then it’ll give Eddie the best possible headache ahead of the Six Nations if Farrell is fit and ready to come back in.
Elsewhere in the side, Jones was never going to change the back row of Courtney Lawes, Sam Underhill and Tom Curry after last week but this is a real examination of Curry’s skills as a number eight as well.
We all know about his ability at the breakdown and in other areas but he isn’t a traditional number eight and England’s pack might just be going backwards, which isn’t something he’s been used to, so controlling the ball at the base and decision-making will be more difficult.
This is the 13th and final game of a long season for the Springboks with months spent away from families and friends and, although they haven’t shown too many signs of waining in the past couple of weeks, England will be hoping they’re a bit fatigued.
That may be clutching at straws as the world champions looked in fine fettle against Scotland. We all know what’s coming and Eddie Jones can try to play it down but whatever way you look at it, this is most definitely an acid test for his new-look England side.
Comments on RugbyPass
Don’t pay a blind bit of notice to Lukie… he likes the sound of his own voice and is always looking for something controversial to say. He has been banging on about Leinster's defensive system all season like he knows something Jacques Nienebar doesn’t. Which is the reason why he didn’t apply for the job obviously
13 Go to commentsWho got the benefits out of Schmidt, Lowe, Aki, and Gibson Park?
13 Go to commentsWhat’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
13 Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
1 Go to commentsThose are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
1 Go to commentsHonestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
135 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
13 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
13 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
135 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
135 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
5 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
135 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
13 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to comments